Tesla Hires Aston Martin's Vehicle Engineering Leader
ir.teslamotors.com
ir.teslamotors.com
You really need to define "good" in this context.
However, to be perfectly fair, your average Porsche sees far fewer miles per year than a bread-and-butter mid-size sedan.
One thing that I didnt expect was how easy it was to drive. Im a rubbish driver and one thing I hate is changing cars. I get used to my car and other cars a like aliens to me, until I get used to them. But I was at home in the Vantage with in a mile. So, so easy to drive.
Quite what Tesla will get out of it though, Im not sure. Perhaps its a quality / value / production thing. I do think that in context Aston Martins are very good value.
They do sound way, way better though.
I got to drive a Vantage GT4 on the racetrack recently: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshu/8368748201/in/set-7215763...
But that being said, despite being IMHO the most gorgeous cars on the road, Astons are not particularly well-engineered.
First, we had an '02 Vanquish and an '03 Vanquish, both of which had a very fundamental and deeply expensive flaw in the transmission design. Without getting too deep into it, they used a "auto manual" style transmission, which was basically a 6-speed manual combined with hydrolic actuators to shift automatically. No manual clutchwork required (same design, basically, as BMWs SMG). On just about all similar cars, after a while (i.e. 12k - 15k miles) the clutch needs to be replaced. On Ferraris and Lamborghinis, it's a simple job that costs a few $thousand - drop the transmission, replace clutch and flywheel, and you're good. On both the Vanquishes, the way in which the clutch would fail would literally destroy the entire transmission, and we TWICE had to spend $15,000 to rebuild the entire transmission after a failed clutch (one on each car). I've never seen another car with design like that, and since it happened the exact same way on two different cars, we're pretty sure it's endemic to the design.
Move to the later models - we had a bunch of 05 & 06 DB9s, and they just weren't great. The brakes were notoriously bad, the bodyflex was particularly bad on the convertibles, and they suffered repeated electrical gremlins.
So from my purely technical perspective as a heavy user of Astons, I'd say I'm not impressed with their engineering.
NOW - that all being said, I'm not going to make any judgment about this guy and his work at Tesla and what this means about that. There is far too much that goes into the production of a car to make any real judgment call about things to come -- Astons could have been beautifully engineered and then ruined with bad supplier decisions, that were outside this guy's control. Etc. etc.
So them's my $0.02.
The DCT on the 458 is rated for the life of the car, though.
Note that Aston was sold in 2007 and I believe engineering quality changed after that.
Gearbox wise, they were on the edge of what they knew, but had to keep up with the competition, and well, pointless fashion. It was an optional extra that customers didn't have to have. That gearbox is not typical of the engineering at AML. Yeah, they should have not released it with out more R&D, but equally, the gearbox is not representative of the whole package.
Bodyflex wise, or the loss of torsional rigidity is what happens when you cut a roof off, and well, make things worse by adding a load of structure to make up for it, ish, adding weight. But that happens to greater or lesser extents with other cars. All lose torsional rigidity and gain weight, unless specifically designed to be convertible. The DB9 is long, and there for suffers more than a shorter car. Same problem with a DBS, but why any one would want to buy a DBS and compromise it is beyond me. But, much better with the Vantage. So, IMHO, you get what you gat. If you must have a DB9 type car chopped up, it will flex more.
Dunno what's wrong with the brakes, but given that you say the problem was for 2 years of production suggests that its a problem solved.
Electrics. Ahhhh, never a good thing on Astons!! Which for Tesla is pretty ironic.
Nonsense, and it's also why this hire makes so much sense. In addition to the engine, underneath the hood is an incredibly powerful electromagnet that's an extraordinary example of their engineering prowess.
It's the opposite polarity of the ones installed in each dealership's service garage, which is why they always end up back at their service department.
Or European cars in general, in my experience. (VW, Mercedes, MINI, Volvo -- all had bad-to-severe electrical problems for me)
My personal favorite is Evo car magazine based out of the UK. They do "long term tests" for a lot of exotics like Aston Martins. As an example here is a review of the V8 Vantage from a few years ago: http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/evolongtermtests/202705/asto...
One encouraging thing: with the Roadster, Tesla took a Lotus chassis and made something magnificent out of it with brand new drivetrain technology. They based a car on a Lotus, who hasn't made a reliable car... ever? (they're wonderful cars in their way, but sorry, it's true) From what you're saying, perhaps it's sort of similar to Aston.
If it's an ability to turn sketchy-but-brilliant British design into great cars that's needed, they seem to have it.
The US-spec Elise/Exiges were powered by a fairly mundane Toyota engine. Body panel costs aside, it's a cheap, reliable, unpractical, and great vehicle.
Best description of a Lotus Elise ever. That car was designed purely and simply for driving enjoyment.
The worst part is the gearbox who is notoriously unreliable and many models have issues around 20,000 km.
It's really upsetting to put 100 k€ in a car to have the reliability of a 80' Lancia.
That being said I love Aston Martin, they make awesome cars. Probably the best car body there is to date.
But if you're looking for engineering perfection, get a Porsche 911 Turbo.
Looks like Aston Martin have some serious talent working on those machines.
From a reliability standpoint there have been more problems with them than their German counterparts (ie: Lamborghini - engineered by Audi with Italian design, or Porsche). From an engine perspective this move makes a lot of sense with the rising cost of compliance with EU emission standards.
Cars will continue to look awesome, will be more reliable and cheaper (relatively) to service.
On a similar note, isn't it odd that this position is just being filled?
Elon's Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/elonmusk
Oh well. The best investment you can make is always yourself.